Early this morning I checked the Maryland MTA website for Metro delays

February 18, 2015

And, I saw this.

Maryland MTA landing page, 2.18.15

Seeing their web-promo for ebola facts at 5 a.m.—when I was simply looking for changes to subway arrival times due to weather—was not an ideal start to my commute. The unexpected ebola post caused me to have a bit of a creepy feeling.

As I usually do, I read a few chapters of a book on my 30-minute ride to Owings Mills. This morning I was reading Armistead Maupin’s Sure of You. I felt better, perhaps a little reminiscent, as the train approached the OM station—so much so that I thought, “I’m actually going to miss riding on this old girl.”

I got off the train, walked to the middle of the platform, walked down the stairs, went through the turnstiles, walked out of the station, headed toward our corporate shuttle’s parking space…

WBAL TV screen capture of the scene

Yellow crime scene tape everywhere. Police cars—city, county, and transit—flashing red and blue lights, a coroner’s van, uniformed officers by the dozen, a body, feet sticking out from under the covering blanket, a gaggle of commuters saying: “Oh, no.” “Oh, Jesus.” “Did someone get hurt?” “What happened?” “Was he shot?” “When did it happen?”

♦

We close on our new place, in a different zip code, on April 2nd. And we will be car shopping in the meantime.